This invention relates to interactive light displays, and more particularly to computer-controlled holiday light displays including Christmas trees.
Holiday light displays, and especially those related to Christmas trees, are well known. xe2x80x9cLivexe2x80x9d trees with strings of colored incandescent bulbs have been used for many years. The resulting Christmas display is attractive, but is limited in its variation and is cumbersome to set up. The display also provides a hazardous mix of combustible trees with hot bulbs and extensive electrical wiring. Numerous attempts have been made to provide an artificial tree having a built-in light display, in order to find an efficient and safe replacement for the traditional live tree with added incandescent lighting.
The general solution has been to provide an incandescent light source in the base of an artificial tree, and to route the light from the source to the tree branches through fiber optic strands. Color may be provided by utilizing one or more colored light sources, by a rotating multi-colored light element, or by interchanging xe2x80x9cprogrammablexe2x80x9d colored discs.
Unfortunately, one or more shortcomings arise with all previously known devices. Most importantly, all of the devices utilize an incandescent light source. This requires a relatively large amount of electricity, and creates a risk of fire from electrical problems or from the heat generated by the bulbs. Additionally, because of the heat generated by the bulb, the light source typically must be located in the base of the tree for safety reasons. This in turn requires that the optical fibers be routed upward from the base of the tree through the trunk and outward to the individual branches, which causes certain disadvantages. First of all, there is often venting of the light housing required, which can result in a leakage of a significant amount of light prior to the light reaching the fiber optics. This loss of light detracts from the brightness of the display. Secondly, since each tree branch requires optical fiber run from the base to that branch, the more branches the tree has, the greater the diameter of its trunk must be. This results in an effective limit on the height and number of branches possible in the tree. Running optical fibers from the base to the tips of the tree branches also requires a great deal of optical fiber, as compared to the amount of optical fiber which would be required if local lights could be positioned on selected branches. Further, the number of possible variations of light patterns with conventional known light displays is limited by their use of rotating or programmable discs to vary the displayed colors and their sequence. Similarly, the number of colors available with conventional lighting is relatively limited.
In accordance with this invention, an interactive light display is provided which includes multiple LED""s selectively arranged to provide a light display, each of the LED""s being capable of a plurality of activation states. Multiple fiber optic strands are also included in the device, each strand having one end near one of the LED""s and extending away from the LED to carry light outward from the LED. Any one of several means may be used for controlling the activation state of each of the LED""s. For example, a purely mechanical switch may be used for simplicity and cost advantages. To better take advantage of the flexibility of the device, however, some microprocessor circuitry is most useful. The ideal controlling means would be a computer, which would allow an extremely wide variety of routines to be run with the display. Using a computer to control the display would allow routines to be conveniently custom-designed and easily exchanged, even allowing routines to be downloaded from the Internet or by modem transfer. Standard computer cable is typically used for connecting each of the LED""s to the controlling means such that the activations states of all the LED""s may be controlled to form selected light patterns.
One particularly useful application of the device is an interactive light display in the form of a Christmas tree having a trunk and branches extending laterally therefrom. The tree would typically have LED""s located on or near each branch, with fiber optic strands extending outward from the LED""s toward the ends of the branches. Optional vertebrate branches incorporating one-way hinges could be used to make the tree more easy to store or ship.
In view of the foregoing, several advantages of the present invention are readily apparent. An interactive light display is provided which is particularly adaptable for use in the form of a Christmas tree. The use of LED""s in place of incandescent lighting makes the Christmas tree of the present invention considerably safer than known trees, due to the lower voltages and currents involved, and also due to the lack of heat associated with operation of LED""s. Additionally, the colors of the LED""s may be mixed to provide a palette of 256,000 potential colors, far exceeding any combinations of colors available with conventional light displays. For the same reason, there is no colored wheel commonly used in known devices, thus eliminating the maintenance and replacement costs associated with such wheels, as well as the motor required to operate them. Still another advantage of the Christmas tree of the present invention is that considerably less length of fiber optic strand is required as compared to a conventional tree of the same size. This is due to the capability of placing the LED""s on or near the branches, which is possible because of the low heat emitted from the LED""s. As an example, a 7.5 foot tree according to the present invention and utilizing LEDs on or near the branches would require approximately the same length of optical fiber as is currently used to construct a 3.5 foot tree using conventional incandescent lighting. Also, LED""s are commonly rated at 100,000 hours of use, which is approximately ten times the life of a typical incandescent bulb. Finally, using a computer to control the display would allow routines to be conveniently custom-designed and easily exchanged, even allowing routines to be downloaded from the Internet. The variety of possible routines is limited primarily by the imagination of the user, and is incomparably greater than the limited variety possible with currently known devices.
Additional advantages of this invention will become apparent from the description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.